Drones top list of Pakistani protests

ISLAMABAD M-bM-^@M- — Many Pakistanis welcomed the election of President Barack Obama as an opportunity for some fresh thinking about their troubled region.

But the honeymoon hasn't lasted long. As Obama preparesto meet with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghan President Hamid Karzai this week in Washington, Pakistanis say they would give the American leader a earful if they, rather than their president, had a seat at the White House table.

One of the biggest complaints: the deadly drones, the unmanned aircraft involved in spying and firing on suspected "high-value" militants on Pakistani soil.

"These drones are very bad," said Ashraf Bhatti in Lahore. "What would America think if someone started shooting rockets and killing people in their land?"

Although the CIA has apparently gotten better at hitting its targets without killing as many civilians, the anger and resentment remain so great, some here argue, that America loses far more in goodwill than it gains in assassinated militants.

Another way to buy goodwill would be to end the administration's much-touted "AfPak" terminology and strategy, some said. The American approach is meant to combine policy toward the two countries into a single, cohesive plan. But people here say that although the region may look like one big mess from afar, there's a world of difference between Pakistan and its neighbor to the west.

Pakistan, they say, is a proper nation with a functioning government, respected universities, a long-standing legal tradition and a vibrant arts tradition. Afghanistan is a land without much in the way of law, government or other conventional definitions of a nation, some contend.